Message from EtonHouse

Dear All,

It gives me great pleasure and a wonderful sense of pride in sharing with you that EtonHouse has signed the agreement with Reggio Children to start the Asia chapter of the Reggio Children International Network (for further information www.reggiochildren.it).

As most of you know, the Reggio Children International Network is present in many parts of the world. It represents the various reference points of Reggio Children in many countries of the world. The Network is a sort of transnational project of the educating community of Reggio Emilia, Italy that maintains an international dialogue and shared responsibility, with the aim to support the identity and work of Reggio Children and of the Loris Malaguzzi International Center. The International Network has the responsibility to offer the opportunity of drawing on each other’s theory and practice, with the Reggio Emilia Approach remaining central to the identity of the Reggio Children International Network.

Some of the network’s reference points are the NAREA in North America, Nordic Network for the Nordic countries, Red SOLARE of the Latin American countries, REAIE in Australia and so on. It is indeed a privilege to be the first organisation in the region to establish this relationship with Reggio Children and be given the opportunity to support, uphold, sustain and disseminate the values, culture and heritage of the Reggio Emilia approach in Asia.

There are several pre-schools in Singapore and in the region who work closely with the principles of this approach, hailed by Newsweek as the best in the world. However, there are no professional development initiatives for educators to subscribe to in order to ‘learn’ this approach. There are several professional development sessions in Reggio Emilia in Italy that educators from all over the world attend in order to understand this approach better and get inspired from it. However, not everyone can attend these sessions. The international network organizations thus help to share the principles of this approach (amongst pre-schools that are inspired to this thinking) as well as bring to the region exhibitions and speakers from Reggio Emilia. The start of this network in Singapore will provide many such opportunities to the educators in Singapore and the surrounding region to bring in the inspirations from this approach into their own settings. 

This is a very significant milestone for EtonHouse and the region and we are very proud to be at the forefront of it. The signing of the agreement is a culmination of years of collaboration with Reggio Children and the International Network through the various conferences, visits, professional development sessions, exchanges and dialogues. In March 2010, EtonHouse along with AECES brought the first Reggio Children conference to Singapore. It has been a beautiful and meaningful learning journey for us as a group and I thank each one of you for your support and commitment to this process. We shared images of our schools with the International Network delegates. They were much appreciated and surely left a strong impression of the wonderful work we do here in our campuses in EtonHouse.

This agreement will be the beginning of more collaboration, research and knowledge sharing with our colleagues in Reggio Emilia and the International Network and will strengthen our practice even further. We plan to organise conferences in Singapore, China and in other countries in the region as well as bring the ‘Wonder of Learning’ exhibition to this part of the world for the very first time.

I am very excited about the possibilities and various opportunities this would bring to EtonHouse and the early childhood community in Asia.

I have attached some glimpses of our visit. Thank you again for your support.
 
Best wishes,

Mrs Ng Gim Choo
Founder and Managing Director
EtonHouse International Group

Mrs. Ng Gim Choo and Carla Rinaldi  pedagogista  President of Reggio Children and President of the Foundation Reggio Children - Loris Malaguzzi Centre

Mrs. Ng Gim Choo with Amelia Gambetti  Reggio Children International Network co-chairs

left to right: Emanuela Vercalli - Co-Chair, Reggio Children International Network, Emelia Prayogo - Director of Pedagogy, EtonHouse, Mrs. Ng Gim Choo - Group Managing Director, EtonHouse, Carla Rinaldi-President of Reggio Children, Amelia Gambetti - Co-Chair, Reggio Children International Network and Paola Ricco - responsible for Professional Development, Reggio Children International Network